Spurs not Celtics, both in game or in approach

Published 12:43 am, Friday, April 1, 2011

He was right. All of the Celtics made shots. Except for their best shooter, Ray Allen.

But Rivers also was not being honest. He was trying to be nice to the Spurs, because that's what coaches often do. He wanted everyone to know that in this “make-miss league,” it was simply the Celtics' turn to make shots.

So let's be more honest. The Spurs rested for this game, and they pointed to this game. They wanted to re-establish what they were. They didn't, and now they head to Houston wondering if they can fend off both the Lakers and their own doubts.

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The Celtics, in a similar state of aging, would not have felt the same had they lost.

Rivers, continuing to be nice, would disagree with that. The Celtics have been in their own slump with their own injuries, and they pointed to this game, too.

He's also a believer in Gregg Popovich's outlook of the regular season. He said as much earlier this week when asked how important it was to get things going in the right direction for the stretch run.

“I guess it's important,” Rivers said. “I don't know. We want to win the games, obviously, and I'm sure so does Pop. We would love to get the No. 1 seed or keep the 2 seed. At the end of the day, I want to be healthy and have our rhythm. If that takes up to Day One of the playoffs, I'm good with that.”

But even if the coaches say similar things, their players react differently. While both locker rooms are heavy with experience, with a core that knows what it is like to win a championship, the makeup is different.

The Celtics went through this just a year ago. They lost seven of their final 10 regular-season games, and their first-round opponent, Miami, had won 12 of its last 13.

Here's what happened: Boston eliminated Miami in five games, upset Cleveland and Orlando and came within a Kendrick Perkins knee injury of another title.

“It's what we were waiting for,” Rasheed Wallace said last spring. “At some points in the regular season, we were lollygagging. We wouldn't do the little things to give us victories.”

The Spurs didn't treat their regular season that way. They maxed out what they had, with both good health and the rise of Gary Neal. Popovich has many strategies, but lollygagging is not one of them.

That was true during this losing streak, too. Outside of the one game where Popovich sat four starters, the Spurs were in the previous three with a chance to win all three. Besides, Tim Duncan missing all but one of the games plants a 6-foot-11 asterisk on the losing streak.

Manu Ginobili said the same, which is why he framed Thursday this way: “Today was the worst of the five ... they beat us in every part of the game.”

Not just shooting?

“Their defense was better, they didn't foul as much, and we lost sight of them in transition.”

The Spurs can recover everything, beginning in Houston. But they aren't waiting for the playoffs to begin trying.

Their best players, unlike the Celtics' best, haven't been in title contention in several seasons. They have been at the same speed since November trying to return to those years.

Now they have followed the best start in franchise history with the longest losing streak in the Duncan era. And with each passing day, with every game the Lakers gain, can they tell themselves what the Celtics told themselves last season?

Honestly?

Rivers, as smooth as he is, would have to hesitate before answering that one.